Writing Challenge Day 0
A few days ago, I embarked on a new creative adventure—something I've always wanted to do. I am both excited and terrified: I signed up for a Writing Challenge.
This is my first time writing for myself. While I journal a bit, it's mostly dumps of to-dos and short notes about successful or challenging moments, things I need to work on, or whatever troubles me. Aside from that, I've written numerous essays during my Fine Art degree. These essays were the hardest units, and I scored the lowest grades.
A dear friend and fellow sketcher participated in the writing challenge run by writer and entrepreneur Megan Macedo last year and described it as a transformative experience. Inspired by her journey, I signed up for the challenge myself. You can find out more about Megan Macedo on her website.
For the duration of the challenge, we pick a theme and receive a daily prompt to write a story incorporating our chosen theme. We publish our stories in the private online Writing Challenge Community. So, it's not just about writing the story; people get to read it. We are encouraged to share our stories with our own communities, and I have decided to bring them to you through this blog.
Here is Day 0 of the writing challenge:
Mieke van den Berg. Swell. 2021. Performance
21 Days of (Re)action
Just over two years ago, I graduated with my Fine Arts degree with First Class Honours. It had been a challenging, transformative, and successful seven years, well spent experimenting and allowing myself to be “open” to the creative process. I fully immersed myself in the unexpected, completely surrendering to my studies. I rediscovered my love for drawing, gave in to my curiosity for sculpture, and recognizing my body as a medium to convey meaning through gesture.
It filled my body and soul with excitement, provided a sense of belonging, and served as an escape from life’s turmoil. It became a world within my world where, finally after a very long time, I felt in control of my choices and ideas. Through research and experimentation with materials and metaphors, capturing them in many layers, I was on my way to learning who I am as an artist.
Inspiration for my art was not hard to find. For many years, I had been in survival mode. After migrating, getting married, and becoming a mother, I found myself married to a narcissistic and abusive partner. We divorced, and I had been doing great on my own until two years ago when home life became too overwhelming.
Single parenting with 95% care of the kids, who had big feelings, and having no family support while trying to run my own business as an artist was complex. It came to a make-or-break situation, so I reached out for help. It turned out that it was no wonder why I felt so overwhelmed. Both my girls and I were diagnosed with ADHD and ASD, along with several other comorbidities.
After listening to one podcast after another and reading every book on ADHD, my whole life started to make so much sense. I learned I am not alone and recognized the debilitating effects ADHD had on my life, particularly my emotional regulation—or lack thereof. It has resulted in constantly being or feeling misunderstood, causing impulsive, inappropriate, and inconsiderate reactions.
To me, the word "action" is connected to place, sensory experiences, engagement, duration, and pleasantness. However, actions are more likely to become gaps in my memory. On the other hand, "reaction" is explosive and blunt to me, and I will remember it forever. Over the next four weeks, I’ll explore the theme of reaction. How can I weave layers of place, sensory experiences, and the perception of time, just like in my art practice, into the story to make it more engaging and multi-dimensional? How can I use these elements to ensure the story doesn't just focus on the reaction—a bad memory—but becomes something more intricate and memorable?
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